Couldn't make it up.

[Peter]

Driving back from having my Covid jab this morning, I noticed that the nearside wiper blade was past its best. No problem as there's a Ford main dealer 5 minutes from home so I popped in on my way back to collect a new set. Parked up and walked towards the entrance to be greeted by a young lad in a suit holding a clip board.
"Good morning sir, Do you have an appointment?" I explained that I was after a new pair of wiper blades from their Parts Dept. He informed me that I would have to phone the Parts Dept and book an appointment to click & collect said wipers as it wasn't a safety related item!!!! I did try to point out to him that defective wipers were considered a safety related item as having a defective set fitted is considered a MOT fail but was told that they were merely following Government advice.

I walked away at that point, jumped back in the car and drove a further 2 minutes down the road to the local Halfords. parked up and walked into the store, found the required wiper blades and paid for them without a single question. 2 minutes later I'd fitted them, job done.

Just goes to show the sheer stupidity of some companies in their approach to interpreting elements of Government Guidelines at the present time.

 

[Deejay8]

Unbelievable. Wiper blades are very much a safety related item, and would it have so difficult to stay socially distanced at 2 metres with masks on, and pay by contactless? No it wouldn't. The trouble is that you have got some junior member of staff doing the meeting and greeting, and he obviously doesn't know fully what is a safety related item. So he gets it wrong. But once you point out the error of his ways, rather than concede and let you buy them, he defends his mistake by hiding behind the Government Advice get out. I worked in parts departments most of my working life, and I know there was an easily workable solution to this, but unfortunately you were met by a junior with a bit of power, which had gone to his head.

 

[Peter]

Young Lad may have given the wrong impression, He's in his early Twenties and has worked there for at least 3 years, in fact last year he was actually working in the Parts Dept.
Having spent 35 years of my working life in various Main Dealers (Peugeot, Vauxhall, Volvo, Toyota & Lexus) I know Bull when I hear it. I would hazard a pretty well educated guess that Defective Wipers are amongst the top 3 defects for fails on all MOT tests. I'm just annoyed at the stance taken by a long established Main Dealer in this instance.

 

[lliopp]

I would never use a main stealer.

 

[dry nets]

They would have sold you a car!!!!! hhhmmmmm is a car a safety item???

 

[gingert76]

says it all lol

 

[grey]

Lockdown has really highlighted the two most annoying traits:
those who mustn't but do
those who can but won't

 

[tipitinmick]

I hope you at least took a nugget off him Peter. Did ya ‘ mug ‘ him ? ....... I’ll get mi coat.

 

[me]

Main question is we are on lock down. Why are main dealers and Halfords open to the public . I wouldn't class them as essential.

Ordering a new set of wiper blades on line for home delivery yes , click and collect yes but halfords open as normal is rubbish

 

[Yorkieboy70]

Halfords is allowed to open as people need above, plus cycling is exercise. November daughter went to decathlon for some work boots but was refused as only their cycle department was open.

 

[DFL]

Done you a favour, most probably a lot cheaper in Halfords.

 

[Yuccaman]

Lockdown has really highlighted the two most annoying traits:
those who mustn't but do
those who can but won't

I don’t have a problem with those who can but don’t - in a normal world, I can play golf. I choose not to because I’d rather remove my spleen with a rusty fork.

I think it needs another clause - those who can but won’t and think everybody else should agree...

 

[Deejay8]

Garages and parts suppliers are allowed to be open as they provide a vital service. This latest Lockdown does allow for a lot more staff having to get to work, and so they need to be able to keep cars and bicycles on the road. Otherwise if own transport is off the road, more workers have to use public transport, which is only supposed to be used as a last resort. I'm not sure if Halfords has restrictions on what kind of products you can buy or not. Hopefully they aren't serving people who want fluffy dice or new sub woofers.

 

[me]

Halfords is allowed to open as people need above, plus cycling is exercise. November daughter went to decathlon for some work boots but was refused as only their cycle department was open.

So should sports direct be allowed to open as it sells exercise clothing and accessories.

Like I said Halford should be mailorder or click and collect.

Essentially is food and medication not

 

[Yorkieboy70]

Wasnt there a backlash because sports direct said they were opening in first lockdown. Not sure who decides what is essential, garden centres couldnt open yet B & Q could.

 

[Deejay8]

So should sports direct be allowed to open as it sells exercise clothing and accessories.

Like I said Halford should be mailorder or click and collect.

Essentially is food and medication not

But Halfords don't just supply goods. They do repairs on cars and bikes. I had a battery fitted to my car by them last month. I paid for the item at the till, along with the fitting charge. And then they got me to open the bonnet and they fitted and took the old one away. If I had got it mail order or click and collect, I would have had to fit it myself, and dispose of the old battery.
The basic fact is that Halfords are as much a parts supplier and repair centre as any other. Just because they are on big retail parks or the high street, rather than an industrial estate or under the arches, doesn't change their basic service. The government has deemed it ok for garages, parts suppliers and cycle sales spares and repairs shops to stay open, so that's that.

 

[pies]

The word to highlight is ADVICE. Its not law

 

[Scribe]

Main question is we are on lock down. Why are main dealers and Halfords open to the public . I wouldn't class them as essential.

Ordering a new set of wiper blades on line for home delivery yes , click and collect yes but halfords open as normal is rubbish

Halfords are considered an essential supplier as they provide a lot of services / parts for the emergency services.

 

[stephenk]

I popped into B&M for milk and bread. Place was full of people buying everything from Easter eggs to cushions, picture frames etc.

Didn't feel right to me.

 

[Yosemite Sam]

I bet if you had a suitcase with £30k in it and said you wanted to buy a new car he would have let you in.